The invention relates generally to a bed sheet attachment system. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for impermanently attaching a top cover to a bottom sheet with a connecting expansion panel assembly and making a bed with the expansion panel assembly in place.
An unmade bed is unsightly and makes a clean room look sloppy and dirty. Children, as part of learning to take responsibility for household chores, are often assigned to make their own beds. Unfortunately, often children find bed-making a struggle and do not allow sufficient time in the morning to complete the task. A popular choice for children's furniture is a bunk bed with one bed set on top of the other. Making the top bunk bed can be especially challenging. Sometimes even adults, caught in the morning rush, do not have the time to properly make the bed. Making the bed requires frequent stooping over, an activity that adults with back problems may find uncomfortable. The bed maker must walk around the bed multiple times, adjusting the top covers to be evenly distributed before tucking in the edges under the mattress.
Changing bed linens and putting on fresh bedding is challenging to children and adults alike, especially if only one person is available. After the bed has been stripped, the user places the fitted bottom sheet on the mattress. Then the user must spread out the top cover over the fitted sheet, making sure that the sides are even, and that there is sufficient material on the bottom to tuck under. Attempting to tuck one section in before the cover is properly placed ends up in a cycle of re-spreading the cover until it adjusted properly. The larger the bed, the more challenging it is to get proper placement of the top cover.
As much as making the bed is a chore, everyone enjoys slipping under the smoothed covers of a made-up bed to get a good night's sleep. Sleepers snuggle under the covers or alternatively, a small child is “tucked in” by a loving adult. Unfortunately, a sleeper's unconscious movements during the night can result in covers lying in a heap on the floor or at the bottom of the bed. The disarray or lack of covers then wakes the sleeper who may, in turn, disturb others. Small children especially may cry out from being cold.
Others have attempted solutions to solve both of these problems. One simple solution is to attach the two sheets by various means, such as a zipper or stitching. Some have proposed directly attaching just the bottom of the two sheets. Others have included directly attaching the bottom or the bottom and the sides of the two sheets to a third piece of bedding, a bed skirt. When the bed linens are permanently attached, washing is made more difficult with a standard agitator washer. The bedclothes do not circulate well because they are attached and the clothes can bunch up and cause an uneven spin cycle. Additionally, the optimal washing conditions for one bed linen, such as water temperature or spin cycle, may not be the same as for the bed linen to which it is attached.
When the bottom sheet and the top cover are directly attached, there is not much room for the sleeper to get between the sheets, nor enough room for the sleeper to roll-over or move around. The sleeper becomes like a letter in an envelope, fixed in a flat position. The lack of accommodation for movement results in either an uncomfortable sleeper or the covers becoming untucked. Some sleepers prefer to sleep with their feet uncovered, but like the covers tucked in at the sides. When a bed is shared, often one sleeper's style of sleeping conflicts with the other's preferred arrangement of bedding. Sleepers with sensitive feet who suffer from peripheral neuropathy or poor circulation would find the bedding arrangement especially uncomfortable. This is a recognized problem and some have proposed an elastomeric strip at the bottom of the bed at the junction of the bottom sheet and the top cover. Others suggest an elastomeric strip around the bottom and sides of the bed attaching the bottom sheet and top cover.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.